A Different Future
by TheOnlyCraw
Summary: Steven reacts much differently to finding out Pink Diamond is his mom. This change causes a certain someone to be found sooner than intended, but that's already history. How will Steven deal with the gem that has dealt with thousands of years of pain? In his own Stevenie way of course. StevenxSpinel don't like don't read. R&R anything helps, might go to M for leniency in detail.
1. A Surprising Find

**Hey there, I'm still pretty new to this whole writing fan fiction stuff so it probably won't be the best writing you've seen, but I'll try my best.**

**I've been wanting to make a Steven x Spinel fic since I've seen the movie, but I struggle with actually starting to write. Anyways with that outta the way I hope you enjoy the story, please R&R.**

"**Speech"**

**'Thoughts'**

**_Memory_**

* * *

Chapter 1: A Surprising Find

"Mom was Pink Diamond," Stevens says quietly, looking towards the ground.

"Waaahhaaat," Amethyst shouts from behind Steven, dumbfounded by what she and Garnet heard him say. Garnet doesn't show any reaction to what they heard, but its ever obvious with how quiet she is being, that not even her future vision could have predicted hearing that.

Steven continues to struggle internally with his 'new' discovery. 'There's no way... I was just coming to terms with her being Rose and now... now she's Pink Diamond!? The very gem Rose hated, it was her the whole time.'

As Steven thinks about Rose and Pink Diamond being the same gem, he slowly becomes angry. Angry at the universe, angry at his mom, and angry at how unfair it is that whenever he feels like he knows what happened in the past, a curve ball is thrown at him. Steven begins to look back up at Pearl, making eye contact with her for a second before quickly turning, and walking towards the warp pad.

"Steven wait! I'm really would have told you sooner if I could've but I couldn't!" Pearl shouts, knocking both Amethyst and Garnet out of their shock, causing them to look at Steven walking onto the warp pad before turning towards them. He has tears beginning to form in his eyes as he looks at his friends, first Garnet, then Amethyst, and finally landing on Pearl.

"Pearl, I'm not mad at you so don't worry too much about me. I just... I need some time alone to think about this." Stevens says before giving her a sad smile, but it quickly falls.

"I'm not sure how much time I'll need, but please don't look for me, I will come back." Steven closes his eyes and focuses on a place, somewhere new, somewhere they won't look. Feeling the warp activate, he looks at them one last time before disappearing into the light.

'I'm not too sure where this is even taking me, I just hope it's not too obvious'

After several more minutes Steven begins to worry, normally the warp is only a minute at most, but this is ridiculous. 'How far out is this-' Stevens thoughts are abruptly broken when he begins to notice some of the light flickering around him. Steven begins to panic slightly, remembering the last time he went out of the warp stream he almost froze to death.

Not knowing what to do, Steven just ends up frantically looking around while his tears slowly begin to freeze. Now wishing he brought a jacket, Steven just hopes he gets to his destination alive.

Thankfully after only another minute of panicking, Steven feels the warp reaching it's destination and makes sure not to fall flat on his face, like the first time he went through a warp. Quickly wiping his iced tears off his face, he faces straight ahead.

Watching as the stream clears he notices just how dark and remote the place he is at is. Looking around he sees broken pillars with vines and grass covering them, and outer space all around. He sees a pathway that leads straight ahead all the way across the...

'Who is that?' Steven thinks to himself, noticing a gem with a heart shaped gem, in the middle of the pathway, looking quite disheveled and dirty, looking straight at him with big disbelieving eyes.

"Hello? Do you need help?" Steven shouts her, seeing her slowly take a vine covered step towards him. She continues to come towards him gaining speed until she is sprinting at him. Once she is roughly half way towards him, Steven notices she has tears in her eyes, and immediately pushes aside his jumbled thoughts to focus on her.

Taking only a second longer the gem jumps from the base of the stairs straight into Steven, catching him off guard. She begins crying into Stevens shoulder, with her arms wrapped around him tightly, almost to the point of him being unable to breathe. Steven after taking a second to adjust to what was going on quickly pulls the gem in closer giving her a hug.

"Whoa, whoa, hey it's okay. I don't know how you got here, or how long you've been here alone, but I'm here now," Steven says, attempting to comfort the gem currently in his arms.

After several minutes of the gem crying she finally begins to calm down. Taking a deep breath, the gem pulls away from Steven slightly causing him to look at her face. Her eyes are red from crying and she has tear stains going down her face, he looks at her hair and sees two very poorly managed heart shaped buns on each side of her head.

"I-I l-l-lost the g-game," the gem says, making Steven dawn a confused face.

"What game?"

"The w-waiting game, I-I was supposed to stand in that spot t-till she came back, but- but its been so long and when I saw you I-I couldn't help myself, I had to come to you." She says, making Steven have a multitude of questions, but one being the most prominent.

"Who is 'she'?"

"P-Pink Diamond"

Upon hearing this Steven tensed, before relaxing slowly and pulling the gem closer into him.

"That game... how long were you waiting for her to come back?" Steven asks.

"5,998 years," She replies, making Steven almost choke on spit. 'Just how awful of a gem was my mom?' Steven thinks to himself, 'She needs to know the truth'

Deciding to take a risk, Steven prepares himself for all the potential responses her could think of, but first... he needs to know what kind of gem she is.

"Okay, I need to tell you something about Pink, but first... what's your gem I've never seen a gem like yours, my name is Steven."

"I'm a Spinel, everyone has always said I had the perfect cut, but look where that got me..."

"Alright Spinel, I don't really know an easy way to put this, but... Pink Diamond was never coming back for you," Steven says, cringing slightly at how harsh that might have sounded, but there was no gentle way to put it.

"W-what? What do you mean she was never coming back for me? We were playing a game!" Spinel says, not wanting to believe what she was hearing from Steven.

"I mean... she left you here, she probably played that game to make you stay away from her," Cringing harder at the harsh words Steven continues, "You may not want to believe me, but please I know that was probably the case because- because Pink Diamond is my mom, that means she's lost her physical form and gave me her gem to birth me, and shes been gone for 14 years now, so I don't think she ever planned on coming back here," Steven could almost feel the the burn from how volatile the words felt saying.

"So- so she... she left me here? But we were best friends, I was MADE to be her best friend," Spinel says with a lot of hurt in her voice. Suddenly Steven begins to feel her shaking before something unexpected happens. She poofs, right there with no warning or known cause, and Steven was barely able to catch her gem before it could land on the ground.

"What? But how?" Steven says to himself, looking at his reflection from the gem in his hands. Steven ponders on why this might have happened for only a few seconds longer before the gem in his hand begins glowing and floats up into the air in front of him, and beginning to take shape of Spinel. At first it looked exactly like her, before the changes began, her heart shaped buns becoming wild ponytails, her gem rotating until its an upside down heart on her chest, and her shoes and shoulders changing from large and round to long and pointed. Coming to the ground Spinel's form clears of the white light revealing a much darker sadder looking gem than before, with the whites now being black and the previously light pinks being dark pinks. Looking at her new form, Steven looks at her down turned face and sees what looks like mascara trails running down her face from tears.

"Spinel..." Steven says cautiously. Said gem looks up at him, her irises having changed to a dark pink color. The look in her eyes makes Steven step closer to her and reach out, wrapping her in his arms again. She stands motionlessly for a second longer before latching onto Steven and beginning to cry again, but not as strongly as before.

"St-steven promise me, please promise me to never leave me like she did," Spinel begs Steven. Who in response holds her more strongly, only slightly noticing the height difference they have, with her now being decently taller than him.

"I promise," Steven says, and how could he say otherwise? Shes hurting because of his mom, and a gem like her shouldn't have been hurt like this, no one deserves to be hurting like she is.

"Thank you," Spinel says, pulling away from Steven and giving him a small smile, her tears finally drying. Smiling back in response, Steven holds out his hand for her to take and he leads her onto the warp pad.

"Come on, I want you to meet my family," Steven says, causing Spinel to become slightly nervous once she remembers what she looks like.

"Are you sure? I don't exactly look my best," Spinel says pulling on one of her ponytails.

"Yes I'm sure, you need to get off this place anyways, I have room at my house so you can stay with me."

"Okay, if you say so," Spinel says before both of them look back at the place they met, and hopefully will never have to see again. Glancing at each other, Steven gives Spinel an encouraging nod.

"You ready?" Steven asks.

"As ready as I'll ever be," was Spinel's response. Taking that as his queue Steven begins to try warping them back to his house, and after a minute of struggling finally is able to get the warp to work, leaving behind the torment that caused them to meet.

* * *

**Well that's one chapter down, I will try to get the next chapter done within a reasonable time, but no specific date cause that just adds stress that I don't need. **

**Anyways thank you for reading the first Chapter of my story and I will be continuing this for how ever long it needs to.**


	2. Shaky Greetings and Friendly Company

**Hey there, back a little later than intended, but I wanted to pump out some writing while I have the time to, writing that is of a little better quality i.e. less spelling and grammar errors.**

**Thank you to all who have favorite, followed, and/or reviewed, it really makes me want to write for you guys.**

**Now without further ado lets get to the story.**

"**Speech"**

**'Thoughts'**

_**Memories**_

* * *

Chapter 2: Shaky Greetings and Friendly Company

"Pearl, we've been waiting here for like half an hour! Steven said he would come back so just stop worrying," Amethyst shouts from the couch towards the pacing Pearl, who just continues to mutter to herself about how she should've told him sooner. Garnet, who is sitting on the couch next to Amethyst, continues to struggle internally, with Ruby and Sapphire struggling to cope with the gem that lied to everyone about who she is, telling them to be Garnet. Thankfully Ruby in one of her rare moments of patience, is slowly but surely able to begin calming down Sapphire, bringing Garnet's struggle to a close and allowing her to focus on the two gems in the room with her.

"Both of you calm down, Steven will be back, I'm sure of it," Garnet says, finally speaking for the first time since Steven said Pink Diamond was Rose. Hearing Garnet speak, Amethyst and Pearl look at her.

"Garnet... how... how are you doing with this?" Pearl asks her hesitantly, tense from anticipation for her response.

"I'm fine," Garnet says, causing Pearl to relax.

"See Pearl? I told you you should stop worrying," Amethyst teases Pearl, causing her to grumble lowly.

Looking back towards the warp pad, Pearl can't help but feel uneasy, yet can't put her finger on why. 'Maybe I am worrying over nothing... but I won't give Amethyst the satisfaction of seeing me give in'

"Amethyst my question is how you're not worrying at least a little for Steven," Pearl says towards the purple gem, who just shrugs.

"Well it's because I know Ste-man can handle himself now, he's dealt with worse anyways," casually replies Amethyst knowing what she says is true.

"I know bu-" Pearl suddenly stops talking at the sound of the warp pad activating making all three gems quickly turn their heads to the warp. Upon the warp stream clearing the gems see Steven standing there with a smile on his face.

"Hey guys! I'm back sooner than I thought, but I brought someone with me who I want you to meet," says Steven before looking behind him and whispering. The three gems wait for the person behind Steven to come out from behind him. Slowly the gems see a big hand pink begin to come from behind him. Continuing with the sluggish pace the person behind Steven begins to show more of her body, dark pink hair in two wild ponytails, dark pointed shoes and shoulders, then finally her face and gem.

"It can't be," Pearl gasped once she fully sees the gem that Steven brought back with him. This causes Garnet and Amethyst to turn to her. They notice that Pearl looks very conflicted and after a few seconds calms down before speaking, "Steven... um where... how uh," struggling to get out the right words. Pearl's eyes are locked onto the gem, the Spinel, that is clinging to Steven's arm and looking right back into her eyes with dark pink irises, eyes of pain, hurt, but most of all disbelief.

"You," Spinel says accusingly making Pearl flinch slightly.

"So she took you with her? Why am I even surprised?" Spinel says, eyes tearing up and somehow getting even closer to Steven than before.

Garnet, Amethyst, and Steven are just standing, wondering whats going on while thinking 'Do these two know each other?'

"I don't want to spoil the moment and all, but do you two know each other?" Amethyst asks, breaking the silence. Spinel just closes her eyes and keeps quiet, forcing Pearl to answer.

"Well uh, you see... Spinel was Pink Diamond's little playmate before the rebellion, Pink... left her, she didn't trust Spinel enough, so she just took her out of the equation," Pearl says still stricken by the emotions that she saw in Spinel's eyes. Garnet just shakes her head, disappointed with their past leader. Amethyst just chooses to stay silent, unsure of how to react to what she heard.

"Spinel, are you okay?" Steven quietly asks the distressed gem, receiving a shake of her head in response. Turning to face Spinel, Steven brings her into a hug feeling her tightly wrap her arms around him.

"C-can we go for now? I need some time to think over this before I can face her," Spinel whispers to Steven, who gives a slight nod. Looking at Pearl, Steven contemplates what to tell her, Garnet, and Amethyst. Pearl, realizing Steven is looking at her, averts her gaze from him, receiving a sigh from Steven. Turning his gaze towards the two gems on the couch, Steven gives them a firm nod.

"We're going to go out for now. Shes been through a lot lately and its about time she got a break," Stevens tells the gems. They choose to not respond, and just watch as Steven leads the Spinel through his door and down the deck stairs. Once Steven and Spinel are out of sight Garnet and Amethyst look at Pearl accusingly.

"You have some explaining to do," Amethyst says. Pearl squirms under their looks and shuffles her feet nervously.

"I guess so... where should I start?" Pearl asks, to which Garnet quickly answers.

"From the beginning," Garnet says showing next to no emotion in her voice. Pearl, taking a deep breath starts from the beginning.

"It all started around 6,500 years ago. There was news of a gem, a Spinel, word was that she had the perfect cut. Taking the opportunity, White, Blue, and Yellow Diamond decided to assign her to be with Pink Diamond, the Spinel was pink too so it just worked out perfectly, just how the Diamonds like it. Initially Pink and Spinel got along fantastic, they had the same wants, to entertain others and be the center of attention, but... Pink, she wanted to be more, she wanted more, she wanted a colony for herself."

"As time went on Pink started to focus more on herself and what she wanted rather than the other gems around her. For Spinel this meant that she was getting pushed aside, Pink wanted to mature to be a good ruler, and her future didn't involve Spinel's young childlike personality and actions. Pink used to genuinely laugh at Spinel and her jokes, but it slowed progressed to forced laughs and smiles."

"Then that big day came, the day Blue and Yellow allowed her to have her own colony, a small remote planet with very little inhabitants capable of defending themselves against gem tech, an easy job for any of the Diamonds and perfect as Pink's first colony. Spinel was with her when she received the news and once the conversation came to a close with Blue telling Pink what to do and Yellow providing confidence and assurances to the youngest Diamond. Pink proceeded to head towards the warp pad to go to home world and get her ship to begin travel to her new planet, but there was one issue she felt like she had to deal with."

"Spinel..." Amethyst interrupts causing Pearl to groan, but still nod as confirmation.

"Yes, to Pink, Spinel has become an annoyance at this point. An annoyance she didn't want to deal with. So she used what Spinel loves to do against her, her love of games. She came up with a game that invloved Spinel not moving from the middle of the Garden until she came back, despite knowing she would never come back for her. Spinel quickly jumped on the opportunity to play a game with her Diamond, not knowing it was just a cover for Pink's true desire of abandoning her."

"She must have stood there for the last 5,998 years since Pink started the game. I only know of this because Pink told me due to me asking her what happened with Spinel. I was taught not to question what Pink told me, so I didn't think much of it. For a while I forgot about her in the midst of the me and her secret, the rebellion, and then all the years until now. I never realized how much it would have effected her, she was a mess when we saw her with Steven, nothing like how she used to be, and I can't help but still not believe its her, it was just so long ago," Pearl says, finishing her story. She opens her eyes to look at the reactions of Garnet and Amethyst, Garnet still remains as stoic as she was when Pearl started her story, but Amethyst looked pitying.

"Why didn't you tell us this, we are supposed to be a team, but you are always hiding something," Garnet suddenly says, slight anger filling her voice. Hearing Garnet's tone, Pearl flinches and looks at the ground. Amethyst stays silent, debating on whether or not she should leave the room before chaos ensues.

"I-I'm sorry, but I just forgot about her! It was thousands of years ago," Pearl says, trying to justify withholding such questionable actions. Garnet, not stable enough to properly listen to Pearl, just stands up and silently walks towards the temple doors, opening her room and stepping inside. Before she closes the door, she turns around and firmly says one last thing.

"You have a lot of making up to do."

Pearl, thankful that Garnet isn't as mad as she initially thought, walks over and flops onto the couch next to Amethyst, groaning she looks up at Amethyst.

"Hey don't look at me like that Pearl, I don't really know how to feel about what you told me but it was a long time before I popped outta the ground. Well... that and I believe you when you said you forgot, I forget things a lot too," Amethyst says causing Pearl to let her head fall back down onto the couch and groan again.

* * *

"And that's the Big Donut, oh I know! Lets get a couple of donuts before they close, I'm sure you'll love them!" Steven says to Spinel while pointing at the small shop, said gem who is currently walking next to him looking around the beach gives him a confusing look.

"What's a doughnut?" Spinel asks, not knowing anything about the Earth or its foods.

"Oh um, how do I explain this? I guess it's like a grain food that is in the shape of a circle with a hole in the center, and its covered in this sugary stuff called frosting. It's really good," Steven attempts to explain to the gem. Steven only gets a more confused look from Spinel. Sighing at the lack of understanding Steven just deems it best to show her as soon as possible, the deliciousness of donuts. Grabbing Spinel's hand, he speeds up and walks towards the Big Donut. Spinel on the other hand just enjoys the contact from Steven, hoping it never ends. Sadly once they enter the store and go to the counter Steven releases her hand and slaps his hands onto the counter.

"Mr. Dewey! I need half a dozen donuts!" Steven shouts attempting to get Dewey's attention. Hearing a customer, former mayor Dewey comes in from the back and proceeds to take Steven's order.

"How's the business been running Mr. Dewey?" Steven asks, with Spinel standing just behind him, looking around.

"Well its not being the mayor, but I get to see a lot of the beach city residents so I can't complain," Mr. Dewey replies before handing Steven the bag filled with donuts.

"That's good, anyways thanks Mr. Dewey! Hope business starts booming here soon!" Steven says as he and Spinel leave. Bill just sweat drops a little at how quiet that lady with Steven was, she didn't say a word and just stayed close to Steven the whole time.

"Eh, who cares, I just hope Steven is wrong about business beginning to boom, this job is enough work as is."

Sitting down on a nearby bench, Steven and Spinel pull out a doughnut. Once the doughnut is out in the open Spinel is hit with the sweet delicious smell of fresh baked dough and frosting.

"That smells soooo good Steven," Spinle says, almost drooling from the smell alone. Hearing that, Steven smirks, glad he guessed right about her liking donuts.

"Here, you can have the first doughnut then, tell me what you think."

Taking the doughnut from Steven's hand, Spinel brings the doughnut closer to her face and inspects it a little bit before taking a small bite. Upon tasting her first doughnut Spinel quickly finds out that she loves it, eating the rest of it quickly, but still managing to savor the taste. She takes another doughnut out of the bag and begins eating that one as well, just more slowly than before to allow Steven to have some as well.

Steven, noticing what she is doing takes one of the donuts from the bag and begins to eat it, but a lot slower than Spinel, wanting her to have the rest since shes never had a doughnut before. Spinel continues to eat faster than Steven and eventually finishes the donuts just as Steven finishes his.

Taking a moment to just enjoy each other's company, Steven moves the doughnut bag and slides closer to Spinel, who likes being closer to Steven. They look at the night sky and just watch the stars while holding each other's hand softly for comfort. After a while Steven yawns making Spinel look towards him, wondering what that was. Steven noticing her gaze decides to explain.

"Oh, that was a yawn, it happens when humans are tired. Humans need sleep in order function well."

"Does that mean we should head back to your home?" Spinel asks.

"Not necessarily, we don't have to go back yet if you don't to," Steven says to which Spinel immediately nods to, wanting more time alone with Steven. Not knowing what else to do at night due to the arcade, and fun land being closed, Steven and Spinel decide to just take a midnight walk on the beach.

"Hey Spinel, what was it like? All those years alone," Steven asks, wanting to know how to help her cope with it. Spinel struggles to respond to his question for a second, before gaining the courage to talk about her time spent alone.

"Well it was lonely, that's for sure, but I just wanted to see Pink again, or anyone really. Being alone for that long made me realize just how important it is to have someone in your life, someone who wants you around," Spinel says, Stevens nods in agreement, thinking about everyone who has always been there for him, Pearl, Garnet, Amethyst, and his dad. Steven thinks more about how Spinel never had that, and decides that he will be there for her no matter what.

"Hey Spinel, you never have to worry about that again, I already promised I wouldn't leave you behind like my mom did," Steven says causing Spinel to smile and tear up slightly, knowing he did, not too long ago. Spinel takes this opportunity to walk closer to Steven and grab his hand, her cheeks turning a dark pink, thankfully covered by how dark it is despite the moonlight.

Although the moment is cut short by Steven yawning again, Spinel knowing they should probably head back towards Steven's home begins turning around. Steven follows her staying on the same side due to her hand hold.

"You know this almost feels like a dream, standing completely still for almost 6,000 years without any contact and all," Spinel says, Steven smiles when he hears this and responds accordingly.

"Well it's not, although... do you wanna try sleeping tonight? It might help you feel less stressed over all that's happened today, you can even sleep in my bed with me if you want," Steven offers. Spinel contemplates trying to sleep then thinks about laying with Steven and decides to give it a shot.

"Yeah I'll try it, how hard can it be?"

Continuing to walk they eventually reach Steven's house and walk into the dark room.

"Go ahead and go to the bed I just need to use the bathroom before sleeping," Stevens says while walking to the bathroom door, making Spinel confused yet again.

"Whats a bathroom?" Spinel asks, Steven being too tired to really think on how to describe it tells her he'll need to describe it in the morning when he can think straight. Spinel just accepts that and waits patiently by sitting on the bed and humming a little tune. She hears multiple different sounds throughout Steven's time in the bathroom but knows Steven will explain it more tomorrow.

Steven comes out of the bathroom in his pj's and comes up onto the bed area before pulling up the covers and slipping under them. He lifts the other side of the blanket and Spinel lays down underneath them before Steven covers them both.

Feeling extrememly comfortable Spinel struggles to keep her eyes open, surprising her with how exhausted she is. Although Spinel is near Steven she still feels a little too far, so she slowly moves closer to Steven until they are almost touching. Suddenly she feels Steven's arm wrap around her and pull her close to him.

"If you wanted to be closer all you had to do was ask, I don't mind," Steven asks causing Spinel to blush for the second time that night. Despite being slightly nervous, Spinel wraps her arms around Steven as well, a massive smile adorning her face.

"Goodnight Spinel," Steven says, before yawning one more time. Not really knowing what to say back, Spinel decides to just mirror Steven.

"Goodnight Steven," Spinel says, before pulling Steven even closer to her and closing her eyes. Within a minute she fell asleep. Although Steven, who is still barely awake, thinks about the night he had, and plans on taking Spinel out tomorrow to show her the rest of Beach City. For now he is just happy with being able to not only have another friend, but also to be helping someone through a tough time in their life without him almost being killed.

Finally feeling sleep come over him Steven accepts it with open arms and a smile on his face, with the half gem not noticing the sudden shift from the other gem.

* * *

**Love ending it on a mystery, adds something extra to it.**

**Okay for those who might get triggered over the doughnut vs. donut stuff I just decided to use both to satisfy both arguments, although I don't care either way.**

**Anyways thanks again to all those who have followed, favorited, and reviewed on my story, I hope to have another chapter soon. I already know where I'm gonna take it, but not hints that ruins the element of surprise.**


End file.
